Generalization in ABA means a taught skill reliably shows up across new people, places, materials, or time, not just in the room where it was learned. It has to be built into the program on purpose, using the framework Stokes & Baer laid out in 1977, and confirmed...
Pairing means intentionally making yourself a source of things your child likes so they learn to want to be with you, and it’s what therapists do before teaching new skills. The goal is trust: a child who associates you with fun and comfort will engage more and resist...
If a child cannot cough, cry, speak, or breathe, act immediately with alternating cycles of back blows and abdominal thrusts for kids age 1 and older. For infants under 1, give back blows followed by chest thrusts, never abdominal thrusts. If the child becomes...
Prompt fading is the planned, systematic reduction of teaching prompts so a learner’s behavior comes under the control of the natural cue instead of adult help. The single most important move before you begin: pick a fading architecture (most-to-least, least-to-most,...
A preference assessment is a structured method for identifying which items, activities, or forms of attention a learner finds most motivating, so a therapist can use them as reinforcers during teaching. The goal is simple: replace guesswork with data. Common formats...
